Community of the Imagination (1973) dir. Gerald Krell

Programs: 
Country: 
Genres: 

This hour-long documentary was commissioned by the United States Information Agency, one of the early funders of the IWP. Its producer and director Gerald Krell and his crew came to Iowa City in winter of 1973, shot for about a week, then completed the production at the USIA facilities in Washington DC. The film was then shipped to US Embassies world-wide and shown locally, at screenings or via broadcast media. After years in the vaults it has surfaced. The video provides a rich trove of IWP history and an ingenious perspective on the writers. The writers in the 1973 residency:

  • AMADI, Elechi - Nigeria
  • AMPATZOGLOU, Petros - Greece
  • ASHOKAMITRAN, J. Thyagarajan - India
  • BLANDIANA, Ana - Romania
  • BRAUN, Andrzej - Poland
  • BRAVO, José Antonio - Perú
  • CHEUNG, Dominic - Hong Kong
  • CHOE, In-hoon - South Korea
  • COSTA, Flavio Moreira - Brazil
  • DOMINGUEZ, Luis - Chile
  • GERGELY, Ágnes - Hungary
  • GUBEGNA, Abbie - Ethiopia
  • HADI, Abdul - Indonesia
  • HOWELL, Anthony - United Kingdom
  • KARPOWICZ, Tymoteusz - Poland
  • LAPINSKI, Zdzislaw - Poland
  • MORENO, Virginia R. - Philippines
  • NAZARETH, Peter - Uganda
  • POPESCU, Petru - Romania
  • RAWSON, Alicia Dellapiane - Argentina
  • RUSAN, Romulus - Romania
  • SHIRAISHI, Kazuko - Japan
  • VANEGAS, Teodoro - Ecuador
  • VENTURA, Adao – Brazil
  • YU, Tien-t'sung – Taiwan
  • ... and of course Hualing NIEH ENGLE and Paul ENGLE

This film was digitized by the UI School of Library and Information Science.

Year: 

Happening Now

  • We regret the passing, on April 11, 2024, of the distinguished Romanian author and critic Dan Cristea, who served as the editor in chief of the Luceafărul de Dimineață cultural monthly. In addition to being an alum of the 1985 Fall Residency, Cristea received his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa.

  • Our congratulations to 1986 Fall Residency writer Kwame Dawes, who has been named the new poet laureate of Jamaica.

  • Congratulations to our colleagues Jennifer Croft and Aron Aji, who are among those serving as judges for the National Book Awards this year, in their case in the category of translated literature.

  • Ranjit Hoskote’s speech at the 2024 Goa Literary Festival addresses the current situation in Gaza.

  • In NY Times, Bina Shah worries about the state of Pakistani—and American—democracy.

Find Us Online